


The Trouble With Quadrants

by Kephra



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Sgrub, Quadrant Confusion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-23
Updated: 2012-08-16
Packaged: 2017-11-10 12:54:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kephra/pseuds/Kephra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In Post-Sgrub Alternia, Sollux has happily filled all of his quadrants, but a chain of events turn his relationships on end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ...Is Dividing Your Time

Your name is Sollux Captor, and right now you’re sitting in a pretty fantastic situation. What you dreaded would become your life since you were a wriggler will never come to pass. You’ll never be strapped into some ship like an engine or even used as a weapon for the Condesce. Since the game was beaten, and your world restored, you’re a free troll. Feferi took up the throne as Imperial Highness, but it’s not the same office it used to be. I guess one thing she learned from wandering the dream bubbles had been about a system called democracy, from the human called Rose. She was extremely excited about the idea, and didn’t stop glubbing about it to you until…well, even with the cogs of the system already turning, she still glubs about it. Sure, the highbloods aren’t too thrilled about it in some respects, but even they’re happy that they’re not going to be enlisted into the now-disbanded Imperial Fleet and shipped off planet. Essentially, she’s got the authority that an Earth president might, but on a global scale, she set up the Alternian Senate, and a judicial system. Her long term plan is once the groundwork is all laid out, and people are educated in the new system, that her position would also become an elected office. And sometimes, it seems that day is never soon enough. She works as hard at setting up this system as you used to at your coding. And some days you just have to drag her away from it.

The constant threat of being culled no longer hangs above your head either, as culling is now reserved only for the most severe crimes, and only after a fair trial. Terezi was more than happy to help Feferi organize the “courts” if one could even call them that, and she was a ruthless in her quest to weed out corruption. Though, you suppose the word ruthless isn’t the best word now, perhaps thorough would be better. The two of them have been collaborating on a grand scale as of late, with the backlash of some of the former ruler’s favorites, setting up task forces and quelling what little rioting there was. Equius was more than happy to assist with the reassignment of duties for the culling drones to more protective roles.

As red consort to the Imperial Highness, you honestly wouldn’t have to do much of anything, but you took it upon yourself to rework the Condesce’s technological infrastructure, set up new government databases, and to destroy your soul by attempting to teach said things to other living beings. You weren’t exactly known as the friendliest of trolls, and you tend to hear hushed whispers when you actually show up to Tech HQ. Though, it is pretty novel experience to have a blue-blood cower at the sight of you.

But even you, the coding master, need some time away from the numbers, and you’re not entirely sure how, but you’ve managed to keep four steady quadrants for over two sweeps now. You suppose it’s a credit to Aradia that she keeps on you about your other quadrants. Without her timely pestering, you’re fairly certain your seadwellers would have dumped your ass by now. That’s right, since the game ended, Feferi remained your matesprit, and shortly after, you finally caved to the fish-douche’s black solicitations, and honestly, you weren’t disappointed, though it took you time to come to terms with that.

Your pocket vibrates; pulling you from your train of thought, and dropping you squarely back into the reality of your chair. Feferi is still pouring over paperwork on her desk, trying to finish up so the two of you can head out to dinner. You can tell she’s worried, though that’s been a reliable constant since she came to power. You grimace as you reach for your phone, your stomach reminding you that you’ve already been waiting for…(looking at the digital clock as you tap the unlock sequence,) 45 minutes.

“FF…” you whine pathetically as you open your messaging app.

“I know, I know, I’m R—EALLY sorry! You’re probably withering away to nofin over there. Almost fin-ished I swear!” She pulls another sheet of paper from within the mass, with an “Ah hah!”, and you turn your attention to the message blinking on your screen.

hey sol just makin sure you havvent forgotten about our plans tomorroww

You frown as another wave of hunger hits you, but your fingers type out a reply at near in-trollian speeds.

yeah, ii’ll be there, a2 long a2 ii don’t 2tarve to death iin the next hour or two

You spare another glace over at FF, before reading the near immediate reply.

if your ass is late again i wwill hunt dowwn wwhatevver is left a your corpse an tie it to the proww a my hivve for the wwhite cawwbeasts to feast on

love you two 2weetiie <3<

<3<

You have a goofy ass grin on your face when the cheerful lilt of your matesprit chimes in. “Ready to go, honey?” She leans down and places a gentle kiss to your lips, and your dumbass smile only grows wider.

“Fuck yeth, I’m thtarving.” She giggles in response, taking your hand and pulling you to your feet. You wrap your arms around her, and bring her in for a deeper kiss before leading her from the room. Your name is Sollux Captor, and you are the best at romance. It is you.

~~~~

After a wonderful surf and turf dinner, the two of you spend an evening at the movies. Karkat had insisted you take Feferi to the beach inspired rom-com de jour, and for lack of any real objections or other ideas, that’s exactly what you did. The things you do for your enclade…

You are able to distract yourself for a while, picking through your bag of sour grubs, eating only the red and blue ones, and making subtle moves on Feferi. She remained engaged with the sordid summer romance blossoming on-screen, apparently sloppy make-outs were not going to happen…so eventually you ate the rest of the sour grubs too. Having decimated your bag of sugary respite, you caved, reaching your hand over to clutch Feferi’s, you laced your fingers with hers and slumped in your chair, beginning to actually pay some attention to the movie.

~~~~    

“And when the guy fell backwardth off the dock, and got his horns caught in the rope!” you chuckle again, remembering the scene as you exit the theater. Ok, so maybe the movie wasn’t THAT bad, though, you’d probably never tell Karkat. Feferi starts giggling, but you can’t help but stare. When she’s so carefree, like she used to be, it’s breathtaking. The sparkle in her now fuchsia eyes, the jingle of the jewelry she adorns herself with…yeah. You’re a damn lucky troll. You notice a few other admirers out of the corner of your eye, two of them, and they seem a little shady. You narrow your dichromatic eyes at them, and a third nudges the two, and whispers are exchanged. The third, their leader it seems, just nods to you, and flashes a sleazy smile. The underlings avert their gaze, and act as though they never saw you. You nod slightly in return, but keep an eye on the trio as you usher FF into a waiting vehicle.

 You return her to the city’s Imperial Estate, which was erected in favor of the underwater palace. It was a project of necessity, should the next Imperial Elect be of a lower blood caste. You know she’s going to go straight back to her work, but the few hour’s distraction had been good for her. You also remember you have a project of your own to hopefully finish before you go to sleep this morning. You walk her up to the door, the security drones not even blinking as you pass, and place a kiss upon her brow. She grins and slings her arms around your shoulders, and you bend down to meet her waiting lips.

“Thleep well,” you whisper as you pull away, she bounces up to her tip toes to give you another peck.

“Good Morning,” she says as she releases you, you give her hand a small squeeze as she disappears into the large manor.

Returning to your vehicle, you put the keygrub in the ignition, and make for your apartment. It would not have been unusual for you to stay the night at the estate, but tonight you opted for your own trapping. The familiar environment always helped you code faster, and the sooner you got this done, the more sleep you’d get before you inevitably woke up late for your hate date. You grinned as you ascended the stairs to your door, Eridan always told you to be on time, and every time you were late. You loved the fact that you could piss him off without having actually done anything. You dump your keys on the table and make for your computer, the familiar hum of your beehouse mainframes providing a soothing backdrop to the sound of your feverish keystrokes.


	2. …Is Dealing With The Unexpected

You wake up in your bifurcated recuperacoon, feeling surprisingly well rested, considering what time you finally slithered into it last night. With a yawn you reach for your glasses, followed by your phone. You nearly drop the device into the slime _, holy shit is that the time?_ You fumble out of the recuperacoon, double checking to see if you had slept through all of Eridan’s text messages. Huh. That’s weird. You’re already half an hour late, so you expected to have at least 15 messages from the asshole, but your cell remains, mysteriously free of purple text. You jump into the ablution trap, coating yourself head to toe in cleansing solution followed by a quick rinse. If you kept up this pace, you’re looking at about eh, maybe 50 minutes late. Eridan was going to throw a shit-fit, well, a bigger shit-fit than normal anyway. You throw on a T-shirt and some jeans (surprise surprise) and with shoes in hand you make for the elevator, slipping on your sneakers while the floors tick down.

After making your way to your vehicle, you head for the blasting range. It had quickly become a go-to location for you two to meet up. And you usually spent a couple of hours trying to one up each other, taking trick shots or obliterating each other’s’ targets.  _What the hell?_ You come to a halt; the road in front of you is cluttered with other transportation units, packed bumper to bumper for a good few miles. You bang your head on your navigation column. Ok, ok, you got this. You should have known better than to take this route on a weekend. But as a local, you have a whole grid of side streets and you aren’t afraid to use them.

Well, as long as you’re not moving…you type out a quick message to your kismesis. No, you hadn’t forgotten, yes, you were actually on your way, and no, you weren’t going to resign yourself to cawbeast food just yet. You toss your phone onto your passenger seat, and unfortunately, moving at a grub’s pace, it still takes you a few minutes to get to get to the end of the block so you can turn off.

Arriving at your destination, you park your car, and head for your normal meeting spot. Rounding the corner however, you realize the caped wonder is nowhere in sight. You check your phone again, to see he hasn’t replied to your message. Well, there goes your “left his phone at his hive” theory. You scan your field of vision as you bring your phone to your ear, but you don’t hear a ringback, it goes directly to voicemail. You exhale, walking back around the side of the building, looking over the cars to see if a familiar purple monstrosity is anywhere in sight. You scowl, finding no such thing. You glance at your phone one more time, an hour and ten minutes after the original meet-up time. Ok, so this was a new low, even for you, and if Eridan had bailed on you, you supposed you might deserve it at this point. But then, surely he would have sent one of his “scathing” messages to you. A “fuck you, I’m goin home”, as it were. You check your meeting spot one more time before heading back to your car.

You slump down into your seat, pausing, key in ignition. This is just so unusual for him. Eridan is always so adamant about your hate dates, and tends to get really pissy when you have to cancel on him. Fuck it. You make your decision and take to the motorways once more, heading for the coast.

~~~~

Leaving your vehicle just off the main road, you trek down the slope, soil making way to sand. You reach the hive, banging on the heavy wooden door.  You pause for a moment, waiting for a response.

“Hey athhat, are you here?” you shout, looking futilely into the tiny viewport. You raise your hand to knock again, but stop as you hear something inside. If it was supposed to be a coherent reply, you were unable to extract the meaning. “What?” More mumbling. “I can’t fucking hear you ED.”

“I said go the fuck awway Sol!” the reply was still muffled through the door.

“Are you shitting me? I drove all the way out here to find your ath. I theriouthly doubt that you forgot we had planth today!” You fold your arms, staring crossly at the door, as though it had offended you. Something shifts around inside followed by another muffled response.

“Thpeak up douche-fin, or open the door.”

“I said, plans fuckin change!”

“You could have called or thent a goddamn methage. Your phone ithn’t even turned on.”  There’s more rustling coming from inside. There’s no way he’s cheating on you right? Sure it was easy to hate him, but in an entirely platonic way. And he’d been so excited about the excursion last you talked to him over trollian. Something wasn’t adding up. “I’m coming in.” you announce to the door.

“JUST GO HOME SOL!” and it sounds like he’s fucking scrambling in there, your psionics make quick work of the door, eh, what’s a broken lock to a troll who can afford a new one anyway.You see a wake of destruction. _Goddamn._ You catch movement out of the corner of you eye, what you assume to be Eridan, heading for another block.

“ED what the hell happened here?” You round the corner, stepping into the nutrition block.

“GET OUT” is all the warning you get before a cutting utensil whizzes by your head.

“Fuck!” you shout as sparks begin to dance about your eyes and horns, in case he launches something else in your direction. But as the flashes of red and blue illuminate the room slightly, you see Eridan looking around almost _panicked_. It’s as if he…OH SHIT.

He launches himself at you and sinks the claws of one hand into your arm, breaking the skin, the other balling itself in your shirt. You wince as the rivulets of gold trail down your arm. “The fuck is wrong with you?” That’s when you see his _eyes_. Their look is almost feral, yet you see tears threatening to fall from the corners of their violet depths. His ragged breath ghosts over your cheek.  The next moment his hand releases your shirt, and swings at your face. The crackle of your psionics stop it dead in its tracks. This exchange feels way too platonic for your liking. Upon catching him in the psychic hold, the acid look in his eyes dissolved once more into one of pure terror. You pin his body against the wall, with bonds of red and blue, but he thrashes against your hold with all his strength.

“I thaid, what the FUCK ITH WRONG WITH YOU?” It’s like he’s not even fucking coherent anymore. His movements are slowing slightly, and he’s… whining? The amethyst tears have begun pouring down his face, and his chest is heaving. It’s then that you notice the blood. The sticky wet mess on his side is barely visible against the black of his shirt, the blue stripes of his slacks the only telltale sign of the vibrant purple hue spilling from his veins. “Shit.” Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. You ease him down to the ground, and kneel beside him.

His voice is raspy “Don’t…fuckin touch me.”

“Are you kidding me right now, ED? Now ith not the fucking time.” You grab the towel hanging off the front of his roasting box, and press it to the wound. And he lets out another whine. You place his hand over the towel, and go to find more makeshift bandages as you pull out your phone and dial the emergency drones.

You return to his side, carrying a scarf, and a couple more towels for lack of anything else you could find.

“…Kar” you barely hear his harsh whisper as you hang up with the dispatch service. You nod and hit your auspistice’s number on your speed dial.

“AND WHAT DO I OWE THE”

“KK, we need you at ED’s pleathe hurry. It’s…it’s bad.”

The usual fervor in the nub-horned troll is drained instantly. “Shit. I’ll be right there.” Karkat disconnects, and you try to get a look at the damage, but Eridan sneers at you, pulling away as if your touch would burn him. Despite this, you wait by his side until the drones arrive.


	3. …Is Knowing When to Back Off

When the drones arrived, Eridan pointedly refused to go to a hospital, and with enough money and whining, you can do just about anything. So the princely pain in the ass got his way. Karkat showed up at the scene only a few minutes after the medical drones had relocated Eridan to his respiteblock. By this point you were practically pacing in his common room.

Karkat paused a moment to stare in horror at the chaos surrounding you. “Holy fucking hell, Captor.” A medical drone pushed past him, carrying some machinery. His eyes came up to meet yours. “What did you do?” You shake your head feverishly.

“No, no KK, itth not like that! The houthe wath like thith when I got here.” You glance over at the door. “Well, except the lock. He wouldn’t let me in.” His bushy eyebrows are threatening to merge together with the degree of his scowl, but you continue. “I don’t know what happened to him, and he refutheth to talk to me, and wouldn’t let me help him.” Trust Eridan Ampora to annoy the piss out of you even when he’s practically blacking out from blood loss. You trace your fingers over the small cuts he’d left on your arm. “Can you jutht go check on him?”

Karkat’s face softens a bit, looking you over again before nodding. “Yeah, I got this. I swear where the hell would you two nookwhiffs be without me.”

“Probably dead in a ditch thomewhere,” you quip with a forced smile.

“Yeah, yeah, you know just how to make my little ashen club go pitter patter.” He says mockingly as he knocks on Eridan’s door, gaining entry where you were unable to. You sigh. Fuck.

You’re kind of at a loss at what to do with yourself. The flurry of movement has died down, several of the medical drones have already left, you assume that’s a good thing, you hope. Argh. You need to stop thinking about this. You look at the wreckage around you, at least you can make yourself useful. You right the small table which was near where you were pacing, setting it back up against the wall. You kneel next to it, picking up a few of the nautical themed knick-knacks Eridan loves to collect, and placing them haphazardly back onto the surface. The edge of a small picture frame is glinting from under the corner of the couch. You reach for it, and a tiny shard of glass tinkles to the hard wood floor. Turning it over in your hand, you meet own heterochromatic eyes, as well as those of Eridan and Feferi. You’re all smiling through the cracked glass. Well, you and FF are, Eridan is scowling a bit, but, when isn’t he? Wow. This must have been taken right after you got out of the game.

It seems so long ago, but most of it is just as clear in your mind. You doubt you’ll ever be able to forget your ordeal, but you did learn a great deal from it, and you’ve all grown since, but you wouldn’t exactly say you’re grateful for having experienced it. With the ghost of a smile on your lips, you place the frame back on the table, and continue to attempt to restore some semblance of order to his hive.

Most of the wreckage seems to be between the front door, and his respiteblock. What were they looking for? The door was still intact when you got here, so it wasn't a forced entry...did he let whoever did this in? … _Was_ there someone else? That thought make your stomach churn a bit. Surely he didn’t do this himself, he’s not that stupid. You didn’t even realize your psionics had started sparking in your vexation, until you heard the door to Eridan’s respiteblock open and close.

The last of the drones were on their way out, and Karkat had followed, peeling off to join you in the common room. Your voice is caught in your throat, so you just stand there, and swallow, waiting for resolution.

“They think he’s going to be ok in the long run, but you’re still not allowed to see him,” he says.

You shift from worried to aggravated, forcing the words from your mouth. “Why the hell can't I thee him? I'm one of hith goddamn quadrantth!”

But Karkat is used to your bullshit, and matches you in ferocity. “Think about it dipshit! You’re his kismesis. He’s pretty damn grateful that your first thought wasn’t to just cull his ass when you found out he was injured!”

You ponder this thought for a moment, still staring down the shorter troll in front of you. It hadn't really crossed your mind, for whatever reason, your gut jerk reaction had been to get him help. “I'm not going to cull him ok?” You side-step your auspitice, and make for Eridan’s door, but a hand on your chest stops you, and he steps to block your path again.

“It’s not just that.”

“Oh my god what?” You bite out with a sneer.

His response is a little quieter. “He doesn't want you to see him like this.”

“What? Why the hell not?” His brows knit together again.

“Because he's a giant drama queen and is afraid that if you see him so weak, you won't want to be his kismesis anymore. Is it that fucking hard to understand?”

“Seriously? We've been in a kismesisitude for like 2 sweeps now.” You’re more confused than angry at this point, and still several steps away from the respiteblock door.

“Yeah yeah, you're a shining beacon of hate for all wrigglers to one day to aspire to.” But you see him crack, going serious again. “God, I shouldn't be telling you this, I'm swiftly becoming the biggest fucking ashen screw up this side of Alternia.”

You deflate a little, “KK, pleathe,” you plead, looking into his crimson eyes.

He winces a little, as much as you know you annoy him, he’d never have agreed to be your ashen mediator if he didn’t actually care about you two. “You and me are his only quadrants numbnuts, he's been going toe to toe with you these two, aneurysm inducing sweeps with no moirail to glub to about you, and no matesprit to lick the wounds you cause to him.”

“But I thought...” That can’t be right, he was always going on about his other quadrants to you.

“Yeah, not all of us are lucky enough to reach troll serendipity asshole. He loses you, and by proxy, me, and he's left with nothing.”

He lied to you about how well his other quadrants had been fairing. He was too proud to admit how much he needed you. “Shit," that sinking feeling is back in your stomach, and you can’t help but think of all the times you’d taken it a step too far, and how he must have coped by himself.

“Exactly, now if you'll excuse me, since I'm pulling pale double duty, I have to pick up this fucking prescription for this douchebag, and see to it that my ACTUAL moirail hasn't choked on a fucking pie. Just leave him the fuck alone, I’ll be back to check on him later.” You nod, and he herds you out of the hive. He turns around to close the door when he stops short.

Oh, right. The lock is busted, and the amount of pricey shit that Eridan isn’t afraid to flaunt _would_ make him a pretty big target for theft. Half your brain goes off on a tangent about how if it was a burglar who did this, the douchebag did practically have a flashing rob me sign embroidered on his beloved cape. But Karkat growls a bit, “Fuck. Normally I’d give you shit about this. But I guess you busting in is what saved that nookwipe’s life. I’ll just add the hardware depot to my exceedingly long list of shit I shouldn’t have to do today but I’m going to anyway because I’m too fucking dependable for my own good.” He ushers you away from the ship, and you take the hint, opening your vehicle’s door.  You can’t help but look back, your stomach still in upheaval.

“He’ll be fine until I get back.” Karkat’s voice pulls your eyes to the smaller troll, who is looking over the roof of his car to you. “Just go home, Sollux.” He flops down into the driver’s seat, and closes the door. As his engine purrs to life, you sidle into your own vehicle. When the cancer pulls away and heads down the drive, you too, turn the ignition, putting the car in reverse. As you watch Karkat disappear over the bluff, you realize your foot is still firmly planted on the brake pedal. Wrestling with yourself, you’re unsure of what to do. With a groan, you bang your forehead on the steering column, and shift back into park.

 

 


End file.
